President Donald Trump on Thursday announced the creation of the National Garden of American Heroes, which will pay tribute to generations of black legends like Harriet Tubman, Rosa Parks, Jackie Robinson, and others.
“Today we pay tribute to the generations of black legends, champions, warriors, and patriots who help drive our country forward to greatness,” Trump said during a ceremony in the East Room at the White House to celebrate Black History Month. “And you really are great, great, people.”
“Americans are going to be celebrating something very important coming up — our 250th anniversary, our nation’s founding, and when we do, we’re going to look forward to honoring the contributions of countless black Americans who fought to win and protect and expand American freedom,” he added. “From the very, very beginning.”
“The last administration tried to reduce all of American history to a single year, 1619, but under our administration, we honor the indispensable role black Americans have always played in the immortal cause of another date, 1776,” Trump continued. “In the very first skirmish of the Revolutionary War at Lexington Green, an enslaved black man named Prince Esterbrook answered history’s call and fought as the Minute Men alongside the other patriots of the very small Massachusetts town couldn’t protect itself, but they did a good job.”
The president talked about how Esterbrook was wounded in the battle, becoming not only the first African American soldier to fight in the revolution, but he was “among the very first Americans to spill their blood” before he ended up “joining the Continental Army and ultimately won his own freedom along with that of his fellow Americans.”
“His legacy will endure and we’re very proud to honor him today,” Trump said. “I’m pleased to announce that we will be including the statue of Prince Esterbrook in our new National Garden of American Heroes.”
“We’re going to be doing a garden of American heroes … under the executive order I signed last month, this new, beautiful outdoor statue park … it’s going to be unbelievable,” he added. “We’re picking the final sites now. It’s between various states that want it very badly. We’ll honor hundreds of our greatest Americans ever lived, including countless black American icons.”
Trump said during Black History Month, we pay tribute to these heroes and many others “not simply because they’re black heroes, but also because they are truly American heroes who inspire all of us very much.”
The president listed those who will have a statue in the garden, naming “incredible women like Harriet Tubman, Rosa Parks, Billy Holiday, Aretha Franklin, and Coretta Scott King.”
“And I will showcase extraordinary, it will be something very extraordinary. We’re going to produce some of the most beautiful works of art in the form of a statue for men like Frederick Douglas, Booker T. Washington, Jackie Robinson, what a great athlete that was,” Trump added. “Martin Luther King Jr., Muhammad Ali. He’s not a bad athlete. What do you think, Muhammad, not too bad. And the late Kobe Bryant. People love Kobe Bryant.”
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